Ed Macy: Hellfire

SWO:Squadron Weapons Officer

Symbology:Flying and targeting information beamed onto the monocle

T-33:Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star. An old military jet built under licence by the Canadians and renamed the CT-133 Silver Star

TA:Territorial Army

TADS:Target Acquisition and Designation Sight – the ‘bucket’ on the nose of the Apache that houses the Apache’s cameras

Taliban:Collective term used in this book for Taliban, Al-Qaeda and Hezb-I Islami Gulbuddin (HIG)

Tanky:A member of one of the tank Regiments – tank commander, driver or gun loader

TFAD:Task Force Availability Date

Theatre:Country or area in which troops are conducting operations

Thirty mike mike:Military slang for thirty millimetre or the Apache’s cannon rounds

Thirty mil:Alternative name for thirty mike mike

TOC:Tactical Operations Cell

Topman:Callsign for the British Harrier

TOW:Tube-launched Optically tracked Wire-guided missile – fired from the British Army Lynx helicopter

Tracer:Bullets that burn with a red, orange or green glow from 110 metres to 1,100 metres so that they can be seen

TSD:Tactical Situational Display

UFD:Up Front Display – an LED instrument that displays critical information to the Apache crews

USAF:United States Air Force

Venturi:A tubed duct that changes pressure to speed air up

VP:Vulnerable Position

WAH-64D:British version of the Apache

WI:Weapons Instructor

Widow:Callsign for JTACs in Afghanistan

Wildman:British Apache callsign from May 2006 to October 2006

Wingman:The other aircraft in any pair of aircraft

WMIK:Weapons Mounted Installation Kit – an odd-looking Land Rover with bars all over it to which weapons can be attached

WO1:Warrant Officer Class One – a soldier who holds a Royal Warrant is known as Warrant Officer; Class One is the highest non-commissioned rank in the British Army

WO2:Warrant Officer Class Two

Zero-zero:A term used to describe a specific type of approach to land in a helicopter

I owe a great debt of gratitude to Captain Paul Mason, Army Air Corps, the Apache guru who (as he constantly reminds me) taught me all I knew. You were an inspiration to me Paul.

My sincere thanks to the Attack Helicopter Force Commander, Lieutenant Colonel David Turner AAC, and the Director of Army Aviation, Brigadier David Short CBE ADC, for their support throughout, and for letting me tell it the way it was.

A special thank you to Paula Edwards at the MoD for her habitually elegant tightrope act.

The dedication, time, enthusiasm and friendship of the HarperCollins team has been nothing short of monumental. John Bond and Arabella Pike, thank you for believing in me.

I couldn’t have written this book without the guidance of Nick Cook and Martyn Forrester. You have helped nurture and shape my narrative in a way that I could never have achieved on my own. Thank you both so much.

Thanks to all my army buddies, friends and family for your continued support.

I owe my sanity to TFM’s Gary Philipson for letting me in the Zoo at night to talk to the Love Slug!

I’d always assumed an agent was someone who took money off you for licking the odd stamp when he could find the time. I now realise it doesn’t stop there. I can’t thank Mark Lucas enough – for your tireless promotion, advice and, above all, priceless edits. You’re my agent, literary scholar, adviser and above all friend.

Emily, you are my foundation. You support everything that I dream of and you always hold firm when times are rough. Without you I could never even begin to chase my dreams.

To my children, my little AAC: you are my world.

The pagination of this electronic edition does not match the edition from which it was created. To locate a specific passage, please use the search feature of your e-book reader.

Entries in italics indicate maps, photographs or illustrations.

EM indicates Ed Macy.

ABFAC (Airborne Forward Air Controller) 68-71

Afghan National Army (ANA) 145, 146, 168, 333

Afghan National Police (ANP) 145, 146, 168, 179, 188, 201, 299-300, 301, 333, 338, 339, 363

Afghan National Security Force (ANSF) 168, 339, 344

Afghanistan:

British Army bases in see under individual base name

British Army objectives in 145-7

British Army operations in see under individual operation name

climate 157, 165-6, 211, 214, 215, 357

map of xiii

narcotics trade within 146, 147, 227, 333, 392

reconstruction of 145-6, 147, 154, 392

smell of 157, 158, 159

see also under individual area and place name

air support 200, 233, 341

A-10 166, 234, 236

Apache see Apache WAH-64D

B1B 4, 154, 166, 253, 254, 260, 355, 360, 362

B-2 95

C-17 161, 162

C-130 95, 156, 177

Chinook, CH-47 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 11, 97, 129, 130, 132, 147, 173, 174, 175, 176, 177, 178, 179, 181, 183, 194, 195, 196-7, 199, 200, 202, 203, 212, 226, 253, 255, 258, 259, 260, 265, 290, 292, 293, 295, 296, 298, 299, 300, 330, 333, 338, 340, 341, 345, 346

Close Air Support (CAS) 324, 341, 342

Gazelle 33, 36, 37, 38, 46, 47, 51, 53, 55, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62-3, 64, 65, 68, 70, 76, 77, 79, 80, 81, 85, 89, 90, 91, 97, 118, 120, 147

Harrier 166, 269, 286, 355

Intimate Support 325, 341, 370

Lockheed T-33 Shooting Stars 69, 70, 71-2, 73, 74

Lynx 4, 46, 62, 79, 83, 84, 86-7, 89, 90, 91, 96, 130, 198, 289

Aliu Za’I 201

Al-Qaeda 104, 146

Al-Sadr, Muqtada 128

anti-aircraft guns/gunners xx , 13-16, 90, 91, 132-3, 184, 298-31, 337, 392

Apache AH64A 46-8, 89, 103-4, 119

Apache AH64D 89

Apache WAH-64D:

air-conditioning 106, 197, 202, 218, 309, 351, 366, 381

auxiliary power unit (APU) 115, 116, 197, 198, 201, 212, 213, 242, 263, 264, 268, 270, 286, 350, 351

‘bag’ flying in 117, 120-5, 136, 190

Boresight Reticule Unit (BRU) 100, 116

cannon, 30mm Hughes M230

Automatic Chain gun 10, 11, 12, 106-7, 162, 203, 218, 238, 239, 240, 248, 277, 278, 281-2, 283, 312, 315, 325, 360, 364, 385

Counter Measures Dispensing System (CMDS) 224-5, 228

CRV7 rocket 107, 109, 162

Data Transfer Cartridge (DTC) 264

Direct View Optics (DVO) 102

DTV camera 102, 103, 112, 177, 178, 378, 379, 380

‘dynamic harmonisation’ 162, 163-4, 266, 346, 364

effect on role of helicopters in British Army 88-9

EM first launches 137-43

engines, Rolls-Royce 66, 114, 116, 163, 223

EW self-protection capabilities 94-6, 224-5, 228

Fire Control Radar (FCR) 8, 101, 103, 106, 116, 226-7, 231, 309, 353

flares 92, 254, 263

Flechette 107, 108-9, 111, 263, 266, 337, 380-1, 386

Flight Reference Cards 265

Forward Looking Infrared (FLIR) system 102, 103, 112, 119-20, 121, 268, 294, 302, 323, 357, 358, 378, 379, 380

fuel load 212, 217, 219, 225, 229, 230, 232, 250, 251-2, 327, 371, 388

Head-Mounted Display (HMD) 248, 377

HEDP rounds 106-7, 240, 248, 359, 383, 388

Helicopter Integrated Defensive Aids Systems (HIDAS) 94, 95, 132, 364

High Explosive Incendiary Semi-Armour Piercing (HEISAP) 107, 108, 111, 263, 382, 383, 386, 388